Teresa Watkins Brown, Mary Carter and Wilmer Carter chuckle during a preview Friday for the 'Dreaming in Color' series at the Black History Museum in Fort Myers. / SARAH COWARD/THE NEWS-PRESS

More than 70 people gathered at the Williams Academy Black History Museum in Fort Myers on Friday night to get an early glimpse of The News-Press series, “Dreaming in Color,” commemorating the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

The march, held Aug. 28, 1963, is where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the legendary, “I Have a Dream,” speech.

The series, which debuts today in the newspaper and online, is a compilation of the opinions, memories and experiences pertaining to race relations over the last 50 years in Southwest Florida. The News-Press used 50 video interviews with area residents to produce the series. The participants’ ages ranged from 12 to 95 and included children and adults from the Quality Life Center, Boys & Girls Clubs of Lee County, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Sun Coast, longtime residents, elected officials, business owners and activists.

“The stories were very compelling and it was great to see people be honest about their feelings,” said Jarrett Eady, chairman of the Lee County Black History Society Inc., which hosted the event with The News-Press.

The News-Press videos, Eady said, “Tell a story. ... It shows we’ve made progress but that we still have work to do.”

In addition to the Lee County Black History Society, the project was supported with archival material from the Lee County Library System, the Southwest Florida Museum of History and the Southwest Florida Historical Society.

The Black History Museum, located off Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Fort Myers, contains artifacts and installations documenting the history of African Americans in Southwest Florida. Former teacher George Mayo, 79, and Fort Myers City Councilman Levon Simms, 67, reminisced in front of an old photograph of Williams Academy in its former location. Both men attended the segregated school as children living in Fort Myers.

Retired teacher and Black History Society board member Callie Lawrence said the Black History Museum was the perfect venue for the public premiere of the series.

“I can’t think of a better place than the museum,” Lawrence said. There was a lot of history shown in the series of videos, and she said, “There’s a lot of history here.”